Horizon
by CrystalEmbers
Summary: After winning the Kanto Pokemon League, Crystal Mapliskee is sure her journey is over. Of course, that's before she get's an invitation to go to the Battle Frontier, begins traveling with new people, learns secrets about her team who she thought she knew perfectly, and becomes involved in a plan against legendary Pokemon.
1. Chapter 1: The Final Battle

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my latest story :) Before I get the ball rolling, here are just a few things that should make the story more clear.

1) I do not own Pokemon.

2) The story takes place in its own world. Characters from the anime, manga, and games may occasionally make cameos for things like battles, though that's mostly for fun. The only exception is Gary Oak, who is a main character in this story (though now older).

3) After a Pokemon learns a move, they remember it forever. This allows for more interesting battles and strategies since all Pokemon are more powerful.

4) The story only contains Pokemon up till Sinnoh.

That's about it. Hope you enjoy Horizon!

Chapter 1: The Final Battle

The crowd's deafening roar would have brought most people to tears. But not me. I had gotten used to the sound from all my battles as a Trainer - of course, I had to if I ever wanted a shot at winning.

Yep, the finals of the Kanto Region Pokemon League were here, bringing sweat, blood, and tears with them. A full 6 on 6 battle between me and my longtime friend and rival, Gary Oak, would bring the tournament to a close. Both of us had one Pokemon left, one last hope to pull ourselves to the glory of victory.

"You may now send out your final Pokemon," the referee's words shook me out of my thoughts.

_This is it… the final battle!_

"Go, Blastoise!" Gary tossed a red and white Pokeball into the air as hard as a black belt martial artist.

A short flash of white light later, a 5-foot tall blue creature stood in front of me. Claws came out of its short, stubby hands as it showed off the enormous shell and water cannons on its back.

I bit my lower lip, scouring my brain for some sort of strategy to trump the Water-type Pokemon. The referee blew his whistle loudly, a warning to send out my Pokemon or throw in the towel.

I grabbed the Pokeball belonging to my starter from my belt, pressed the silver button to maximize it, and then threw it into the air. "You're up Houndoom!"

The canine came out, swiping his tail back and forth while flexing his muscles underneath his sleek black coat. Houndoom growled fiercely, trying to scare the Blastoise with his tusks. Still, Fire against Water was not a good matchup. Apparently, Gary thought so too.

"I was wondering where your star player was, Crystal. Ready to get washed away?"

"Good luck with that. Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" I cried.

Houndoom faced the Blastoise boldly despite the type disadvantage, and raised his head slightly to help generate the fire faster. Then, he opened his jaws wide and out poured the flames. Vicious, hot, and completely deadly. They went straight towards the Blastoise, who stood fearlessly, waiting for his trainer's command.

"Fight it back with your Hydro Pump," Gary called to his Pokemon.

Blastoise pointed one of his shoulder cannons at the fire, and freezing cold water shot out of it. As the two elements clashed mid-field steam began to blanket the stadium until I could no longer see the two Pokemon in front of me.

Knowing I had a moment to think, I closed my eyes, imagining each one of my Pokemon: Houndoom, Salamence, Charizard, Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Dewgong. We had come so far together, and we were in what I was sure was the final lap of our journey. We couldn't lose now!

As the steam began to clear I heard Gary say another command. "Flood the stadium with your Surf attack!"

Uh-oh. Surf meant trouble for Houndoom, who could swim about as well as an elephant. But with the water coming closer and closer, there was no opportunity for an escape on foot.

"Concentrate your Flamethrower on one spot on the ground to boost yourself into the air," I shouted.

Houndoom quickly launch the attack and soared into the sky. As the Surf crashed on the ground below I commanded him to use Smog to block Blastoise's vision. A cloud of purple, poisonous gas emerged out of Houndoom's mouth and moved towards the Water type. The attack hit its mark, and soon Houndoom was barreling towards Blastoise from the air in a Crunch attack.

"Blastoise, use Withdraw!" Gary yelled. The Pokemon ducked into its shell quickly, hoping to avoid or at least reduce the damage it took.

Houndoom landed on Blastoise's shell, letting out an annoyed growl as it's jaws came down where the Pokemon's head was a moment ago.

"Rapid Spin, Blastoise!" I had a nagging feeling that this was going to happen sometime in the battle, and now entered the situation prepared.

Blastoise began spinning without wasting a moment, getting rid of the Smog attack and eliminating any chances of Houndoom being able to jump off. "Try a Substitute!" I hollered.

A strange green rag doll took Houndoom's place, and it pushed him off the Blastoise's spinning shell. With a quick shake of his head, my Pokemon was back on his feet, ready to battle. Meanwhile, Blastoise stood up and turned towards the rag doll.

_Now's my chance,_ I thought. "Now, Dark Pulse!"

Shadowy aura surrounded Blastoise before slamming into him all at once. The Pokemon shuddered before collapsing onto it's hands and knees. "C'mon Blastoise, get up. Destroy the Substitute with your Water Pulse!" Gary exclaimed.

Blastoise generated a basketball sized sphere of water in between it's hands and threw it at the rag doll, destroying the Substitue attack. It then turned towards Houndoom, a determined look in it's eyes.

"Sorry, Gary, but you're too late. This match is over. Finish it, Houndoom: Giga Impact!"

Yellow and orange energy surged up around Houndoom, before it charged towards Blastoise at full speed. "Use Ice Beam!" Gary bellowed. "Stop it!"

Blastoise, sensing the urgency in his trainer's voice, immediately pointed a cannon at Houndoom and shot the freezing cold beam of energy at him. The attack slammed into Houndoom, but he had generated so much energy and speed that it had no effect on the Fire type.

As Houndoom came dangerously close to Blastoise, Gary screamed a last command, "Strength! Strength! Strength!"

Blastoise barely had time to raise his hands as Houndoom crashed into him at full force, the Strength attack barely doing anything to slow down the Giga Impact. There was a loud booming sound as the two Pokemon collided and a large amount of smoke rose into the air.

My heart thumped so loudly I was sure every single person in the stands could hear it. If this attack didn't work, if Blastoise didn't faint, Houndoom would be at the mercy of any water attack while he re-charged.

The smoke thinned out and I knew I was a goner. _Both_ Pokemon were standing.

Gary didn't bother trying to hide his relief. "You're awesome, Blastoise," he grinned. "What do you say we wrap this up? Hydro Cannon!"

As Blastoise tried getting into position he suddenly glowed dark purple for a second before collapsing. _Poisoning? _I thought. _That means the Smog attack actually worked; but that Blastoise is really good at hiding his pain._

"Blastoise!" Gary screamed his Pokemon's name. "Blastoise, what's wrong? You were fine a second ago; please get up!"

The referee approached Blastoise, and inspected him closely before pointing a flag towards me. "Blastoise is unable to battle. Houndoom is the winner, meaning Crystal Mapliskee wins the match!"


	2. Chapter 2: Awards Ceremony

Chapter 2: Awards Ceremony

I stared at the referee in point blank shock. There was no way Blastoise had actually fainted, because that meant I had… won. And that was impossible. Me, 13 year old Crystal Mapliskee, win the Kanto Pokemon League? No way. But it was true.

I must be pretty good.

Apparently the crowd thought so to, from there screams, cheers, and overall happy ruckus. My mind buzzed as I watched Gary return his Blastoise, look up towards the sky thoughtfully, and come over to shake my hand.

"Not bad, Chris," he said, running a hand through his spiked up auburn hair. "Not bad at all…" His voice trailed off and he looked away with the same musing expression. I had no time to talk to him, however, for I was whisked away by Mr. Goodshow, the President of the Pokemon League, and taken to a building reserved for the staff.

My Pokemon were immediately taken from me, healed, and prepared for public presentation. Meanwhile, a clothing team forced me into a dress, fixed my hair, and coated my face in a layer makeup against my will. After doing all this, there were 10 minutes left until the awards ceremony, so I was allowed to go outside and see my Pokemon for the first time since the battle.

I went outside and took in the sight of my team. Houndoom seemed to be as shocked as me, unlike his best friend Salamence who looked rather proud of what we had all achieved. Charizard swung his tail back and forth, looking uncomfortable with what the caretakers had done to get his skin to be smooth. Jolteon rolled his eyes at Charizard and continued to try to get his fur to stick up again. Vaporeon batted her eyelashes, seeming like the only one pleased with her makeover. Dewgong raised an eyebrow at his friend before going back to trying to lower his body temperature by firing Water Guns at his fur.

I hugged them all, trying to follow my clothing teams orders to not get my dress dirty. I quickly got fed up with trying to be so neat and gave them each bear hugs. "I'm so proud of you guys. You're all the best!"

"They must be — you won after all," I looked up to see another girl standing above me. She wore a mostly brown and tan outfit with green boots to match her green tied up hair. Her voice didn't sound jealous, but almost curious, like she wanted to learn why they had won. Holding out a hand she introduced herself. "Emily; third place."

"Crystal," I said, shaking her hand.

"Congratulations on your victory; I watched your battles, and you really deserve it."

"Thanks. You were… um, really good too," I hadn't exactly watched any of her battles other then part of one I had seen in passing.

Luckily, Emily just laughed. "No need to lie. Anyway, we should probably get back to main building before they start freaking about over where we went."

"Yeah, you're right. C'mon guys, let's go," I beckoned my Pokemon with my hand and they leapt to their feet and followed us back to building.

When we arrived I was immediately lectured for disappearing for so long. "I just went to see my Pokemon - you guys let me," I protested to the staff members there.

"That doesn't matter. Both of you go meet Mr. Goodshow in the next room now," the staff attendant said, ushering us to the door.

Gary was already waiting with Mr. Goodshow when we walked in. "You guys could have hurried up. He was having a panic attack, thinking two of the finalists had escaped," Gary hissed.

"There you both are! Hurry now, time is precious!" Mr. Goodshow exclaimed. He showed the three of us to the curtain we were supposed to walk out of in exactly one minute. "Be prompt and exact. I'll be waiting for you outside with your trophies."

Trophies! I had nearly forgotten the Top Three would each receive one. I nearly missed Gary's voice as I tried to picture mine in my head. "Crystal? Hey, Crystal, come on, it's time for us to go out."

Clearing my head a quick shake, I followed Emily and Gary out the door and into the stadium. The famous Kanto podium had been placed in the middle of the stadium. A table had stood off to the side with three trophies and many ribbons. Standing next to the table were Mr. Goodshow, a brown-haired man I didn't recognize, and my parents and older brother.

"Mom! Dad! Seth!" Forgetting all my dignity and the fact I was probably on TV all over Kanto, I raced over to my family. "Hi guys! Look, I won!"

Seth buried his face in his hands as my dad looked away. My mom was slightly less blunt, just turning beat red and ushering me to go talk to Mr. Goodshow. The gesture was enough to remind me where I was, and I quickly walked over to where Gary, Emily, and our Pokemon stood, all of them trying their best not to burst out laughing.

I faced Mr. Goodshow proudly, ignoring the staggered giggles coming from the crowd. The President tapped his foot, waiting for silence once more. When his wish was granted, he began to speak through a microphone.

"Today we honor each and every participant in this year's Pokemon League for their hard work and dedication to training. The three people standing next to me have demonstrated extraordinary skill even beyond all other members of the tournament. They truly deserve to be in the Top Three. We will now proceed to the awards ceremony."

In a single file line, each trainer walked out of the main building, shook Mr. Goodshow's hand, and were given a ribbon by the brown-haired man. Meanwhile, Emily, Gary, and I stood awkwardly next to the table, trying our best smile at everyone. This quickly got tiresome and we were reduced to whispering a conversation out of the side of our mouth.

"Now, the moment you have all been waiting for!" The sudden use of the microphone literally made me jump, and I grabbed on to Gary to prevent myself from falling down. "Our Top Three! In third place, Emily Styles from Rustboro City!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Emily shook Mr. Goodshow's hand and was given the trophy. She then walked over to where the podium had been placed and climbed onto the step marked with a small three.

"Next, our runner-up, Gary Oak from Pallet Town!"

Screams and shouts erupted from everyone watching, and a chant even broke out after a while. He took the same steps as Emily, though this time climbed onto the step with a two on it.

"And finally, the winner of the Pokemon League, Crystal Mapliskee from Cinnabar Island!"

If the reaction to Gary was loud, then the reaction to me was absolutely thunderous. The stadium exploded with clapping and stomping and whistles when my name was announced.

Mr. Goodshow smiled and shook my hand. "Guess we got a well-liked Champion this year, eh?" All I could do was nod stupidly and accept my golden trophy, too stunned by the reaction to reply with anything tangible.

My Pokemon followed me to the base of the podium where they took their place in the middle of Gary and Emily's teams. I clambered onto the top step of the pedestal and held my trophy high in the air, grinning from ear to ear. Gary and Emily were both more modest, only holding it at chest level and smiling politely.

As we stood on the podium another announcement was made by Mr. Goodshow. "Because Crystal has won this years Pokemon League, she is allowed to challenge the Elite Four! Sadly, because the Elite Four is currently gone for private business at the moment, she will have to wait until they get back to challenge them."

After standing on the podium for at least a half hour, we were allowed to go prepare ourselves for the banquet dinner that night. The actual banquet was all right, though I would have much rather spent my time battling than trying to sit straight and be polite to everyone and everything.

Once I spent some time with my parents I headed back to the hotel room for the last time. I lay in bed for a while, not able to fall asleep, before going outside on the balcony for some fresh air.

I breathed in the sweet, clean air and just stood there, thinking about my journey. What was I supposed to do now anyway? I would definitely head back home for a bit, but then what? There was no way my parents would let me go to another region to take on that Pokemon League until I was older. And there wasn't exactly anything to do in Kanto, either.

"Crystal! Hey, Crystal!" I looked down to see Emily standing next to another tall stature who I assumed to be Gary. "Come on down!"

Pulling a jacket over my pajamas, I headed downstairs to find the two trainers waiting for me in the lobby. "What's up?" I asked.

"We couldn't sleep either. Too much to think about — especially regarding where to go from here," Emily explained.

"Talk about it. I mean what do the Top Three of Pokemon League do after winning?" I wondered out loud.

"We could always travel together," Gary mused.

"What?!" Had I heard him correctly? All of us travel… together? I didn't exactly know why, but thought of traveling with Gary and Emily shocked me. Not that it was a bad suggestion, of course.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Emily piped up. "We could learn from each others battle styles and techniques to become even stronger. What do you think, Crystal?"

"Now that I think about it, it would be kind of fun."

"Then it's decided," Gary declared. "We'll all travel together."

Little did I know that this agreement would cause more despair, destruction, thrill and adventure then I could have ever imagined.


	3. Chapter 3: Home Forever

Chapter 3:

"So we're really traveling together?" I asked.

We all stayed silent as the truth sunk in. _I'm traveling with two people I barely know._ Sure, Gary and I had been friends since we were little. But that's just because we had met when he and his Grandfather came to Cinnabar Island to do some research. Since then we had sent occasional letters to each other documenting our travels and interesting battles. Other than that, we were practically strangers to each other. I didn't even know what Pokemon he had!

"We should probably get to know each other a bit," Emily's voice shook us out of our thoughts.

"I guess I'll go first," I said when neither of them spoke up. "My name's Crystal Mapliskee, I'm 13 years old, and I'm from Cinnabar Island. I left home at 10, got all my Kanto badges by 11, and then took on the Pokemon League and lost really badly at 12. Life pretty much sucked for some time after that, so I ended up going back home to do some research with my older brother Seth. That soon got boring and I ended up training for nearly a year before taking on the tournament again. And now I'm here."

"What Pokemon do you have?" Gary asked curiously.

"Houndoom: he's my starter, Salamence: she was my second Pokemon, Charizard: I got him from your Grandpa, Jolteon and Vaporeon: they're siblings, and Dewgong: he's my newest Pokemon, but I've had him for a while now."

"I'll go next," Emily volunteered. "I'm Emily Styles, and I'm 14 years old. I'm originally from Rustboro City — that's in Hoenn. I first got all the badges from Hoenn and competed in the Pokemon League there, though I only got in the Top 16. After that I came to Kanto, got all the badges, and now I'm here. I really want to learn more about legendaries when we travel together, since they're all so mysterious. Especially the dragon ones," she added with a twinkle in her eye.

Gary laughed. "Of course — you're a Dragon-type Trainer, right?"

"Yeah. My entire team is made of dragons: Salamence, Dragonite, Garchomp, Altaria, Flygon, and Kingdra. That's the order I caught them in, too."

"Well, I'm up now. My full name is Gary Oak, and I'm also 14 years old, so that makes you the youngest, Crystal. I live with my Grandpa in Pallet Town and I started my journey at 10 in Kanto. I got in the Top 32 in the Kanto League and then competed in the Johto League where I lost to my rival, Ash, in the Top 16. I then spent a year and a half doing research in Sinnoh before heading back here to take on the Kanto League again. I want to keep researching and battling in my travels from now on, since I love them both. Oh yeah, and my Pokemon are Blastoise, Electivire, Umbreon, Arcanine, Scizor, and Nidoqueen, but I have a lot more with my Grandpa."

Trying to digest the overflow of information, a sudden thought struck me. "Wait a second, if you both have individual goals already why are you traveling with me? I mean, I really want to travel together, but why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Gary asked, surprised. "We want to learn from you!"

"You want to learn from _me_? No way, you've gotta be kidding!"

"You won the Kanto Pokemon League. Why wouldn't we?" Emily said, clearly amused.

Huh. I had never considered that. Maybe I was better than I thought.

"And then Houndoom charged at Blastoise in this MASSIVE blast of energy, and it was bigger than any other Giga Impact attack EVER, and then he slammed into Blastoise and that COMPLETELY killed Blastoise! I mean he couldn't even get up and th-"

"Okay, okay we got it! You can shut up now," Seth snapped.

It had only taken me two days at home to start bragging about my victory at the Pokemon League. Gary and Emily were going to come over in less then a week, barely leaving me with enough time to re-account the tournament blow by blow, even though my entire family had been there for most of it.

"The only part that worried me was when that Surf attack was fired at Houndoom, but even then I was just a teensy, weensy bit scared. And that's just because Houndoom absolutely HATES water, don't you Houndoom?" I asked my starter, who was currently chewing on rubber Magikarp. He looked at me and didn't reply, so I figured that meant he agreed.

"You'd better eat your breakfast before you beat that, too," my mom said playfully, ruffling my uncombed hair. "Now let's see what's on the news."

I plopped down into my seat at the kitchen table and began eating my bowl of cereal as my mom flipped the TV on. Immediately a picture of me surrounded by my Pokemon came up as the announcers voice spoke in the background.

"Crystal Mapliskee, age 13, recently took the title of Kanto Pokemon League Champion. She has been the youngest female Champion in over a decade, a feat which was last accomplished by Elite Four member Lorelei. It is clear she will achieve great things, but just what those things are nobody knows. Back over to you, Scott."

"Thanks, Jim. Now, regarding the economy…"

The news continued on in the background. Ignoring it, I turned to my brother, grinning "See? I'm on TV!"

"So what? Loads of people are on TV. Of course you don't understand this kind of stuff until your more mature," he smirked.

"I'm plenty mature! I raised a full team of Pokemon and I traveled all around Kanto on my own!"

"Not in my eyes, you're not."

"MOM!"

The week continued on like this, with me boasting more and more about my victories and my brother (and soon the rest of my family) getting more and more annoyed. Finally, when Gary and Emily were due to arrive in an hour, my mom sat me down.

"Now, Crystal: don't keep bragging when your friends are here or they'll leave," she warned.

"I don't brag! And there's nothing to worry about," I assured, giving her my most winning smile. "I'll behave." brag

Keeping my promise, I kept my showing off to a minimum when Gary and Emily came over and instead focused my attention on our next steps. "Maybe we can go to a new region?" I suggested.

"Between the three of us, the only one we haven't gone through is the Sinnoh League — and it's not we'l be allowed let us go across the country alone," Emily pointed out once again.

"Then we could start looking for legendaries," I replied.

"Like legendaries are roaming free throughout the region," Gary snorted.

Hours turned into days that dragged into weeks as we continued to discuss our next destination. Tempers began running high as suggestion after suggestion were rejected for one reason or another. Soon enough simple discussions about the future became screaming arguments and threats to leave.

While it became nice to learn more about Gary and Emily, some things also became unclear. For example, Emily seemed to always switch topics or give unclear answers when the conversation turned to her parents. Another bothering fact was about her and legendaries. Even though her goal was to "learn more about them" legendaries seemed to be a touchy subject for her, especially when it came to the interaction between humans and them.

Overall, this time was one of the most miserable in my life so far. Of course, all this changed one day when my mom brought in the mail holding a letter addressed to me from the Battle Frontier.


	4. Chapter 4: On the Horizon

Chapter 4: On the Horizon

"We could run away after that, and head to my old house in Hoenn-"

"Honey, you got a letter," my mom's voice interrupted yet another discussion going on about our travel plans.

"Not now, Mom," I replied, slightly annoyed that she had broken the conversation when we were on a roll.

"I think you'll want to see this," she pushed. "It's from the Battle Frontier."

"The Battle Frontier!" Gary exclaimed. Emily stayed silent, jaw dropped in awe.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You _haven't heard of the Battle Frontier?_" Emily burst out incredulously.

My mom sent the envelope down on a chair next to her. "I'll leave you guys to it," she said with a smile, sauntering out of the room.

Gary leaped at the envelope and literally tore it open. Grabbing the letter inside, he poured over it, Emily reading over his shoulder. After reading the letter through, he slumped back against the chair, sighing.

"What's so special about this place? Where is it?" I questioned.

"The Battle Frontier itself is a collection of places where you can go to battle Frontier Brains," Gary explained. "The reason everyone knows it-"

"Except you, apparently," Emily muttered under her breath.

"-is because of the Frontier Challenge. The Challenge is to beat all seven of the Frontier Brains. And before you ask, the Frontier Brains are really, really strong Trainers who live all across Kanto," he finished.

"You have to get an invitation to compete in the Frontier Challenge. They only choose the best Trainers. I don't see why you get to compete, but we don't," Emily whined.

I felt my cheeks getting hot. Gary and Emily had gotten second and third in the League, and they knew about the Battle Frontier when I didn't. It didn't seem fair for only me to compete in the challenge.

"Oh, stop it, Emily. You're just making her feel bad." At this my cheeks felt like they would burn a hole through my head. "Crystal's the one who got first in the Pokemon League. And you said yourself they only choose the best."

In an attempt to ignore the awkward silence that quickly filled the room, I shuffled over to my letter and read over it.

_Dear Ms. Maypliskee,_

_Your recent victory in the Kanto Pokemon League has brought your skill to our attention. We have deemed you worthy to participate in the Battle Frontier Challenge. Please come to the Battle Frontier Headquarters located at 21st Main Street, Indigo Plateau at noon on June 26th or your spot will be taken away. _

_Sincerely,_

_Battle Frontier Headquarters_

"Kind of direct, isn't it?" I chuckled, trying desperately to break the silence.

"That doesn't matter, they're from the Battle Frontier. And the Battle Frontier beats all," Emily said, her voice still sounding somewhat annoyed.

"June 26th… Hey isn't that tomorrow?" Gary asked suddenly.

"Yeah, you're right!" I cried, checking my watch. "I better get moving!"

Immediately, I knew I had said something wrong. "Who's 'I?'" Emily asked coldly. "And here I thought we were all traveling together."

"I thought that was the deal, Chris," Gary said, clearly bothered by my words as well. "You don't want us to come along?"

"No, no! I just thought — well — wouldn't you be bored just watching my going around battling? How about you guys?"

"I don't mind. It'll be cool to see how you battle and to research how the wild Pokemon react to the Frontier Brains," Gary chimed at once.

"How 'bout you, Emily?"

She stayed silent for a moment before reply. "I still want to study legendaries and learn from you, whether we're going to the Battle Frontier or not."

"Alright, then! _We_ need to get packed!"

The rest of the day was spent in packing our and our Pokemons' stuff. By the time we finished it was dark outside, and we ended up ordering pizza as a going away celebration dinner. We then had a night of over-energetic sleep, and after a long goodbye to my family, we were off.

The Indigo Plateau was pretty far away from Cinnabar Island, so we ended up flying there on our Pokemon. I was atop my Salamence, Gary was on Emily's Dragonite (for some strange reason his Scizor could not fly him anywhere), and Emily was on her own Salamence.

Halfway there, just when we had started flying over the land, I was shaken out of my doze by a beam of ice flying straight at us. "What the heck?" I muttered, looking over Salamence's wing as he stopped mid-flight. No more attacks came our way, so we kept going.

Less than a minute later, another Ice Beam attack shot into the sky, this time nearly knocking us of our Pokemon. In mutual agreement, we flew back onto the ground to track down the person who were attacking us.

"Well, well, well, look who it is! I believe they call ya the Top Three," A man with a raspy voice and scowling expression looked at us, still on our Pokemon. A Cloyster stood next to him, no doubt the source of the attacks. "I'm gonna take care of ya all right now, so tha' ya won' cause any mistakes, as the legends' call it."

"Who the hell are you? And what do you want?" Emily asked in a rude tone, jumping off her Salamence to face the man. Gary and I both mimicked her action, though I nearly collapsed onto the ground after not walking for so long.

"Ya can call me… wai', no. Don' call me anything. Filth like yaselves don' deserve to know my name," he growled.

Gary and I exchanged looks. There was something seriously messed up about this guy. "Look, man," I started. "We're not looking for trouble."

"Oh, is tha' so? Your friend here certainly looks prepared to figh'," Smirking, he turned to Emily. "How 'bout a one on one battle? Tha'll pu' ya in yar place and teach ya not to mess with me or the legends'."

"Your on," Emily narrowed her eyes. "I can take you any day."

"Wait a second, Emily. Don't just start fighting," Gary said calmly. Facing the man, he continued, "You've mentioned legendaries a bunch of times. What do they have to do with anything?"

The man grinned in a twisted way. "Looks like ya've got some common sense, kid. But I ain' gonna tell ya anything."

"So you really want to take us in a battle? Knowing that we beat all those trainers in the Kanto League? Not exactly the wisest move, is it?" Gary shrugged. "Then again, we're fine with battling. It's not like it'll matter to us — we'll win if we battle, and you'll be the one running if we don't. You can either escape in one piece or not. Your choice."

"Er… I mean when ya put it like tha'… er…" He shifted uncomfortably. Finally, making up his mind, he spat, "Alrigh' lay off! I'll leave for now, but the legends' will get ya' good soon enough." Before we could say anything else, he returned his Cloyster and sprinted away.

I stared at Gary in amazement. He had just managed to get us out of a fight without a scratch on ourselves or our Pokemon. "How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" he asked back innocently.

"Never mind."

Before long we were back in the sky, soaring towards the Indigo League. We soon stopped for a quick lunch, and then continued our journey to the headquarters. After what felt like days (though I knew were more like hours), we finally saw the building.

"Look! The Headquarters!" Gary was the first one to see it.

"Where, where?" Emily questioned, looking around wildly to try and catch a glimpse of the famous building.

"There! On the horizon!" As soon as the words were out of Gary's mouth, I saw it. The building stood majestically in an open field, outlined by the pink and orange rays of the setting sun.

Looking at the Headquarters, I finally realized why Emily had kept going on about how amazing the Battle Frontier was. I mean, even the _building_ looked awesome! As I kept staring at it (hey, it was hard not to), for the first time, I didn't think of my journey as over. I was still young, and even my Pokemon were all strong and fully evolved, the Battle Frontier seemed like it would be a difficult to beat. Challenges were still on the horizon after all.


	5. Chapter 5: The Battle Frontier and Scott

Chapter 5: The Battle Frontier and Scott

By the time we had landed in front of the Battle Frontier Headquarters night was upon us. We decided to set up our tent on the outskirts of the building, fearing that going inside this late would only mess up their moods.

Before long we had gotten a fire going, eaten dinner, and managed to get a tent set up despite my lacking skills in assembly. Things were actually going pretty well… until an official from the Battle Frontier busted us.

We (or more like Gary) had thought about not camping out on the Battle Frontier's property, but quickly decided against moving. It would have been hard to find another spot in the dark and we had already set up everything. Besides, officials from the Frontier would never be able to see us at night, right?

Wrong.

True it would be difficult for _him_ to see us, but apparently he had an Arcanine. So there we are playing Black Jack in our tent, sipping apple juice, and having a great time, when a giant furry dog tore open the flap and dove at me.

"Ack! Get off me!" I cried, trying to shove the sudden weight off. This only seemed to encourage the canine, and between his paws pushing down on my throat and over three hundred pounds on my stomach, I was sure that I had reached my end.

"Arcanine, heel!" A deep voice rumbled. Suddenly, all the weight was lifted away, and I sat up, desperately gasping for air. A man was peering inside the tent, watching us carefully.

"You're lucky I called my Pokemon off," the man growled, his eyes drilling into me. "Come with me, all of you. It was a bad idea to try camping out here. A very, very bad idea."

The man carted us into the lobby of the Headquarters where he disappeared to talk with a lady at the table for a moment. "Should we make a break for it?" I asked as soon as he was gone. "We still have our Pokemon with us."

Gary shook his head. "It'll be too risky. We'll end up getting in even more trouble."

"You already didn't let me fight once today. And you're not going to do it again," Emily snapped. "C'mon Crystal, we're getting out of here." She grabbed me by the arm and began herding me towards the door.

"Hey, wait a second, I never said I wanted to run!"

"You suggested it!"

"Well…" I thought desperately for some kind of excuse, before finally settling on the truth. "I didn't mean it!"

Emily paused for a moment. "Oh well, we can still break out of this place. We'll show Gary!"

"Calm down, Emily. I'm coming with you guys," Gary jogged to catch up with us. "Three's better than two, right?"

We were halfway to the door when a voice stopped us dead. "Take one more step and I'll throw you all in jail!" The man had come back.

"Sorry, sir, we were just looking for the… uh… bathroom!" I stuttered.

"Nice try. President Scott's in the building, and I'm sending you straight to him!"

"President Scott?" Emily's voice was filled with a mixture of what sounded like fear and awe. "You mean the owner of the Battle Frontier and President Scott?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Who else?"

We followed him in stony silence to an elevator. As I stepped inside, I realized there was absolutely no chance I would be challenging the Battle Frontier.

The top floor of the Headquarters was open and luxurious, complete with soft red carpet and velvet sofas. On one far end of the room was an enormous desk with papers piled high and scattered everywhere. A plaque reading 'President Scott' was pinned above it, confirming my suspicions about this being his room. The President himself, however, was no where to be seen.

"Sit here," the man snapped, shoving us onto the nearest couch. He started towards the door, but paused for a moment and added, "You're being watched, so don't even bother trying to make a run for it."

We sat in miserable silence, trying to ignore the deadly fate that loomed terrifyingly close. Seconds, minutes, or even hours might have passed - I was too busy dreading the future to bother looking at my watch - before the stillness was interrupted.

But when it finally was, it disappeared with a crash.

"OOPS!" boomed a loud voice. All three of us leapt to our feet, looking around wildly for who had made the sound.

A moment later, our questions were answered when big man dressed in a light blue Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and sunglasses walked in. He was carrying a large stack of papers and folders, which he dumped unceremoniously on his desk before running a hand through his curly, light brown hair.

Gary, Emily, and I stood ghostly still, unsure if the President had seen us or not. It didn't seem so, by the way he had his back turned to us while he opened a can of Mountain Dew.

"M-Mr. President?" Emily squeaked in an unusually high voice.

"MOUSE!" Scott shrieked, whirling around to face us and spilling soda all over his shirt in the process. "Oh, never mind. Just a couple of KIDS!" He apparently found this hysterical and doubled over laughing, dropping the can of Mountain Dew on the carpet.

I watched him rigidly, unsure how to respond to his reaction to us. "A-Are we in trouble?" I asked hesitantly.

"Trouble? What trouble? NOBODY should be in trouble!" I was surprised that he managed to say that through his continuing laughing fit.

"Ok then…" I trailed off, unsure of what to say next. Deciding that being direct would probably be the best method, I stood up straight and in my most dignified voice said, "I'd like to challenge the Battle Frontier, Mr. President."

This had an immediate reaction on him and he straightened up, pushed his sunglasses higher, and looked me in the eye. "Call me Scott. Do you have an invitation?" he asked in an almost business like tone. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had been laughing less than a minute ago.

"Yes," I said confidently, not bothered by the fact that I was speaking to the President and owner of the Battle Frontier. Searching my pockets quickly for the letter, I pulled out the folded piece of paper and handed it to him.

"Very well, then," Scott said after reading the letter over quickly. "You were supposed to be here a tomorrow, but I guess a day early is fine." He gestured for us to take a seat on the couch before sitting down himself.

"And who are these two?" he asked, looking at Gary and Emily.

"We're traveling together," I said shortly. I didn't want to get into their lives - this was about _me_ and _my_ Frontier Challenge.

Scott seemed to find my answer acceptable, because he simply eyed me over for a moment before continuing. "Are you sure you have what it takes to take the Battle Frontier Challenge?"

"Um," I glanced at Gary and Emily, not sure about how to reply. Gary was watching Scott through narrowed eyes, and Emily started at the owner in awe. "Well, yeah, I guess." Why else would I be here?

Scott nodded. "In that case Nicholas will help you upgrade your Trainer Card." For the first time, I noticed that the man who had first brought us here had come inside at some point. The sight of him sent a chill down my spine, and beside me Gary stiffened. "You'll probably want to go to the Battle Factory first - Noland is the head of that. Now you better get going."

After thanking him, we followed the man - who I assumed to be Nicholas - outside. As we left Scott's office, I heard him shouting, "Now there's a couple of good KIDS! YEP, they sure are GOOD KIDS!" The words were followed by a hearty bout of laughter.

Once I received my upgraded Trainer's Card from Nicholas, Scott allowed us to sleep on the sofas in the lobby until dawn, an order that Nicholas did not seem to approve of. As we tried our best to spread out on the limited space, Gary suddenly grabbed my and Emily's arm and pulled us outside.

"What the heck?" I hissed at him.

"Just be quiet," Gary snapped.

Emily shook off Gary's hand and looked him straight in the eye with a glare that could match a dragon's. "Why did you take us out here? Our stuff is still inside!" I was just glad that she didn't hit him.

"It's about that guy obviously!" he exclaimed.

"What guy?" Emily questioned exasperatedly.

"That guy!"

"_What_ guy?" Emily repeated, this time significantly more irritated.

"Haven't you both realized it yet?" Desperation creeped into his voice.

"Realized _what_?"

The sight of the color draining out of his face turned my blood cold. "That man - Nicholas. We've met him before. He was the one who attacked us when we were flying here."


	6. Chapter 6: A Harder Challenge

Chapter 6: A Harder Challenge

Getting to the Battle Factory proved to be an easy task after journeying through Kanto for so long. A quick fly to the Cinnabar Islands followed by a swim to a relatively unpopulated place called Workmen Island got us there. Workmen Island was covered in large factories from end to end, each one dirty than the next. As we hiked to the middle of the island where the Battle Factory was supposed to be located, Gary insisted that we talked about Nicholas.

"There's something up with that guy! First he attacks us in the skies, then he goes on about legendaries, and then we find out he works for Scott! I'm telling you, he means trouble!"

"Alright, Gary, we get it. The dude's bad. Can we please change topics?" Emily asked in an exasperated tone.

"We've gotta do something about it before it's too late and he tries to, you know, kill someone or something!"

"He's not going to kill someone, end of story. Now stop worrying about it! After all, we're almost at the Battle Factory!"

"I'll race you guys the rest of the way," I grinned. "Loser has to break the ice with Noland."

"You're on!" Gary exclaimed.

"What about-" The rest of Emily's sentence was lost as we sprinted towards the factory.

We charged down the rocky slope and dried grass straight towards the door of the navy blue building. At the last minute, Garry pulled ahead, with me on his heels. Emily fell behind us, and finished a second later than both of us, breathing hard.

"Good race," she said in between breaths. "But Crystal's the one challenging him so she's doing the talking."

"What? I thought we made a deal?"

"Which I never agreed to."

"But you lost."

"But you're talking to him."

I glared at her before admitting defeat. "Fine, fine. Let's just go inside already."

The lobby we entered inside was crystal clean, with shiny light blue tiled floors and a lobbyist who was looking at some papers behind a brown desk. We walked inside, and I approached the women behind the counter. "Hi, I'm here to challenge Noland."

She looked up and immediately frowned, no doubt looking at our dirty appearance. Traveling through the factory-filled island had resulted in dirt-caked shoes, scratches on our arms (several of them bleeding), and our shirt and jeans in varying degrees of conditions. Finally, she asked, "Battle Frontier card?"

"Oh yeah, I've got it here somewhere," I said, digging through my pockets. "Here you go!" I pulled out a shiny gold card with my name and Trainer information, including a picture of each of my Pokemon.

"Crystal is it? You're the Pokemon League Champion, aren't you?" Her the warmth in her voice increased several notches, and she punched a couple of keys on her keyboard. "Noland will be right with you. In the meantime, you can take a seat - or a stand - if you'd like."

"Bet you she's hoping we'll stand," Emily smirked as we walked away.

We never got to choose between sitting and standing because Noland walked in and straight towards the woman a second later. A red hat covered most of his brown hair, and he had a lab coat on top of his gray shirt and black pants.

"You called me? Something about a challenger?" His voice had a rasp to it, as if years of working in factories and doing research had changed it.

"Yes, she's right behind you."

Noland turned around and faced me with narrowed eyes. "Name, age, and where you're from."

His abrupt tone caught me off guard. "Um…"

"Hurry up, we don't have all day," he growled. "I just imported a Mightyena with a pretty big temper, so you'd better move along unless you want a couple of those researchers down there to get eaten."

Somehow, I didn't think he was joking. Regaining my confidence, I rattled out the answers to his questions from before. "My name is Crystal Mapliskee, and I'm 13 years old from Cinnabar Island."

"Alright then, Crystal, I'll meet you outside in the stadium in exactly 30 minutes. Don't be late, or you won't get a battle." He turned around and headed back up the stairs he had come from. "And try to put on something cleaner, would you?"

I felt my face get hot as the attendant added, "Bathroom's down the hall on the left."

"I'll go change," I said in an unusually high-pitched voice before bolting out of the lobby as fast as I could.

Exactly 30 minutes later, the three of us (now in clean clothes) regrouped at the stadium, which was a lot more like an outdoor battling arena and some benches than a stadium. He was already waiting when we arrived.

"About time," he remarked. Pointing to Gary and Emily he added, "You two can find a place on the benches." As if there was anyone else there.

"Technically the rules of this place are that both of us use rental Pokemon, but I like to mix it up sometimes if the challenger has a good idea for a battle style. So you got any?"

"I want a challenge - a really, really hard one," I said confidently.

"Daring are we?" Noland raised an eyebrow.

"More like it'll make my victory over you that much more notable."

This took him by surprise. In an even rougher voice, he questioned, "Is that so? You think you'll win?"

"I don't think I'll win," I smirked. "I know I will."

He let out a laugh that sounded more cold than humorous. "In that case, let's have a 3 on 3 battle. You can use your own Pokemon, and I'll use a pet project I've been working on."

"I can beat harder challenges."

"Fine, no substitutions."

"Easy."

"Let's battle first, and then you can decided if I'm that easy."

We both took our place on opposite sides of the arena. "I'll choose first," he called to me. He pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket, and threw it onto the field. The ball popped open, and in a flash of white light, a bright yellow bird appeared, sparks flying from it's wings. "Meet Zapdos, my first Pokemon.


End file.
